OpenAI’s Custom Chatbots Are Leaking Their Secrets - WIRED   

You don't need to know how to code to create your own AI chatbot. Since the start of November—shortly before the chaos at the company unfolded—OpenAI has let anyone build and publish their own custom versions of ChatGPT, known as "GPTs". Thousands have been created: A "nomad" GPT gives advice about working and living remotely, another claims to search 200 million academic papers to answer your questions, and yet another will turn you into a Pixar character.

However, these custom GPTs can also be forced into leaking their secrets. Security researchers and technologists probing the custom chatbots have made them spill the initial instructions they were given when they were created, and have also discovered and downloaded the files used to customize the chatbots. People's personal information or proprietary data can be put at risk, experts say.

"The privacy concerns of file leakage should be taken seriously," says Jiahao Yu, a computer science researcher at Northwestern University. "Even if they do not contain sensitive information, they may contain some knowledge that the designer does not want to share with others, and [that serves] as the core part of the custom GPT."

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Blackstone has one of the world's biggest pools of uninvested capital, CEO says. Here's where he sees opportunities. - Markets Insider   

Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman is eyeing investment opportunities as the asset management giant sits on a trove of fresh capital.

"We've gone through a big fundraising cycle. So we have over $200 billion dollars. It's one of the biggest pools of uninvested capital in the world, and that will be deployed in due course," he told Bloomberg TV on Monday, on the sidelines of the UK Global Investment Summit.

These funds will be aimed at Europe's real estate, Schwarzman said, as higher rates have put pressure on some owners to sell their properties.

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A New Type of Geothermal Power Plant Just Made the Internet a Little Greener - WIRED   

Earlier this month, one corner of the internet got a little bit greener, thanks to a first-of-its-kind geothermal operation in the northern Nevada desert. Project Red, developed by a geothermal startup called Fervo, began pushing electrons onto a local grid that includes data centers operated by Google. The search company invested in the project two years ago as part of its efforts to make all of its data centers run on green energy 24/7.

Project Red is small—producing between 2 and 3 megawatts of power, or enough to power a few thousand homes—but it is a crucial demonstration of a new approach to geothermal power that could make it possible to harness the Earth’s natural heat anywhere in the world.Hot rock is everywhere, with temperatures rising hundreds of degrees Fahrenheit within the first few miles of the surface, but geothermal plants provide just a small fraction of the global electricity supply. That’s largely because they are mostly built where naturally heated water can be easily tapped, like hot springs and geysers. Hot water is pumped to the surface, where it produces steam that powers turbines.

The Nevada site, an “enhanced” geothermal system, or EGS, works differently. Instead of drilling into a natural hydrothermal system, Fervo dug into rock that is completely dry and effectively created an artificial hot spring by pumping down water that returns to the surface much hotter.That strategy piggybacks on hydraulic fracturing techniques developed by the oil and gas industry. Fervo drilled two wells that each extended more than 7,000 feet down before turning fully horizontal. It then connected them by fracking, producing cracks in the rock that connected the two boreholes. Water enters one borehole cold and exits the other at a temperature high enough to drive turbines and generate power.

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Why This Whiskey Brand Sends Superfans From All Over the World to Vermont Every Quarter - Inc.com   

Brand ambassadors, or "superfans," are gaining prominence as the thrill of influencers wanes on social media channels like TikTok, which tend to prize this year's most popular word: authenticity.

In the early days of WhistlePig's history, its focus on making artisanal rye whiskey was both a blessing and a curse. The Shoreham, Vermont-based business's launch was perfectly timed for a surge of interest in a whiskey cocktail craze set off by the Mad Men series in 2010, but education also proved challenging, as, at the time, rye whiskey was still niche. Production of the smoky spirit had spiked to 1.4 million nine-liter cases in 2020, from 88,000 in 2009.

WhistlePig's marketing tactics helped nurture the niche beverage. There was the time when the company's employees walked Mangalitsa pigs, named Mortimer and Mauve, down the streets during New York Fashion Week. They showed up at Occupy Wall Street with whiskey for activists and brought pigs to tasting events. Buzz built, of course, but pigs can't go to the bar. So Jeff Kozak--WhistlePig's CEO, who took over from the founder, Raj Bhakta, in 2016--and the team went into the bars to talk to bartenders. They introduced the product, held tastings, and talked about rye whiskey and the distinct flavor profile it could bring to the location's cocktail program. Kozak says getting bartenders and other tastemakers who speak directly to consumers behind the brand helped propel them to success more than any pig could.  

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